Generally, the double bearing fishing reel is provided between the driving mechanism and the spool with the clutch mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the driving mechanism to the spool or cutting off the driving force, so that the clutch mechanism is disengaged to make the spool freely rotatable for casting a fishing line and engaged to drive the same to wind up thereon the cast fishing line.
The clutch mechanism comprises a pair of driven members rotatable together with the spool and composed mainly of a pin extending perpendicularly to the axis of spool and a clutch cylinder movable axially of the spool and having a pair of engaging recesses engageable with the driven members respectively.
The clutch mechanism, as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication Gazette No. Sho 50-213,925, is provided between a spool shaft for the spool and a pinion rotatably and axially movably supported to the spool shaft, and comprises two driven members of a clutch pin perforating the spool shaft and extending perpendicularly to the axis of the spool and a clutch cylinder integrally formed with one end of the pinion and having engaging recesses engageable with the driven members respectively.
The clutch cylinder is usually biased by a clutch yoke toward the driven members and moved away from the driven members through the clutch yoke operated by a clutch lever supported to the side frame, thereby disengaging the clutch. When the clutch is engaged, a handle at the driving mechanism is rotated to contact a return projection thereon with the fore end of clutch lever to thereby return the clutch lever, so that the clutch yoke restores the clutch cylinder, thereby engaging the driven members with the engaging recesses respectively.
In the clutch cylinder of the conventional clutch mechanism, the end face on which the engaging recesses are formed is perpendicularly to the axis of clutch cylinder. When the clutch cylinder moves to engage the clutch, upon abutting the driven members against the end face at the engaging recess side, the driven members do not immediately engage with the engaging recesses, but, after relative rotation of the spool shaft having the driven members to the clutch cylinder while abutting thereagainst, engage with the recesses respectively. During such the relative rotation, the clutch cylinder is subjected to a press-contact force by the clutch yoke, thereby creating the problem in that the handle is heavy to operate until the clutch engages.
In the state where a load is applied to the spool shaft, when the clutch cylinder is moved, the spool shaft is stationary due to the load, so that the relative rotation is caused between the spool shaft and the clutch cylinder, and the engaging recesses rotate to the position where they coincide with the driven members, thereby engaging with the driven members to engage the clutch. When the spool shaft is applied with no load, for example, when a user tries engagement of the clutch at a store for selling fishing-tackle, the driven members abut against the end face of clutch cylinder at the engaging recess side so as to rotate together with the clutch cylinder, whereby the clutch becomes hard to engage. As a result, the store-front effect lowers effectiveness of sales promotions. In the case where the clutch is engaged during the rotation of spool for use, for example, in casting, the inertia rotation of the spool may cause the relative rotation of spool shaft to the clutch cylinder while the driven members are not engaging with the engaging recesses, thereby creating the problem in that the corner of each engaging recess wears due to contact with the driven members so that the clutch cylinder reduces its life span.